Review of Bumblebee (2018) by Jetreviews — 23 Dec 2018

Bumblebee is a movie that I was really looking forward to. Although the Transformers franchise is one of my guilty pleasures, I can still acknowledge the fact that they are not good films. I wanted to see a movie that wasn’t racist, sexist, or full of immature humor. I wanted a movie that took itself seriously, with good, non-annoying characters that I could love and feel for. Yet, for some reason, I walked into this movie expecting all of that. Does Bumblebee rise above these expectations? Yes. Bumblebee has none of it. Bumblebee is the best live-action Transformers film yet.

This movie is not directed by Michael Bay, and you can really tell. It’s brighter and has a lot more heart. It isn’t racist, sexist, or immature. It has everything a fan of the classic animated series would want, with costumes and sounds ripped straight from that show. It understood the source material, unlike the Bay films. It knew how to please the fans and give them what they want, unlike the Bay films. It wasn’t overblown or over two-and-a-half hours long, unlike the Bay films. This film is so different from the Bay films, it doesn’t even feel like it should belong in the same universe as them. Hailee Steinfeld was great in this film, and brought a lot of heart to it. She played a good character for Bumblebee to bounce off of, and both of them could really relate to each other. Bumblebee was great in this movie, too, obviously. Unlike the other Transformers films, it solely focuses on Bee, with Optimus only showing up a few times. There were not many transformers in this film at all. It feels so condensed from what the other films were, which is something the franchise really needed.

The opening battle on Cybertron was awesome to watch. The fight scenes in general were all very exciting. They weren’t full of explosion after explosion after explosion. The villains of the movie were bland Decepticons; nothing great about them, but nothing terrible. John Cena’s character was fine. The movie didn’t need a human villain, but he turned out a good guy in the end, so oh well. Charlie’s (Hailee Steinfeld) family were okay. They weren’t annoying like Sam’s family were in the first 3 Transformers films, so that’s a plus. Overall, this movie is pretty awesome. It may seem cheesy and campy at times, but that’s okay, because the classic animated series was, too. It brings heart and color to the Transformers franchise. There were some continuity issues that could come into play if they continue to stay a part of the first 5 films, but I feel they could call this a reboot and completely erase those other films from existence (but I don’t think they will). This is, by far, the best Transformers film yet. I highly recommend this, even if you are a huge hater of the franchise. It brings a lot of great changes to the franchise; changes that were very much needed.